North Shore Mariners gaining momentum and attention

It’s still early days yet, but North Shore Mariners are fast becoming the dark horses of the PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues’ 2 NSW Men’s competition. 

Unbeaten in their last six outings, the Mariners are the form side in the competition.

Add that to their comprehensive 4-0 thrashing thrashing of competition favourites Marconi Stallions in Round 5, and it’s obvious something special’s going on Sydney’s leafy lower North Shore.

Their robust and direct style may not appeal to everyone, but one things for sure, it’s effective and like a knight polishing his sword on a whetstone, so too have the Mariners been honing their game on the training paddock.

Coach Joe Haywood has been fine-tuning his side’s robust and direct style ever since the players gathered for preseason training in October and with Round 8 on the horizon, it would appear that the Mariners are getting closer to the finished article.

Haywood has done quite a remarkable job.

The Englishman promoted several Under 20s players to his first-grade squad in the offseason and with a few ring-ins from elsewhere, had 11 new faces having to introduce themselves when preseason training kicked off in October.

The average age of his fledgling side is around 22 and includes a number of teenagers, so youthful is probably an understatement when describing the group.

Given the unfamiliarity of the Mariners, it was no surprise they struggled in their season opener against Mounties Wanderers, going down 3-1 to a side that always has high expectations of success.

Lacking maturity and combinations, the "new-look" Mariners performed well in the first half but lost their way after the break, conceding three goals in 10 minutes.

"The boys followed the plan but we just lacked a bit of maturity in the second half," Haywood said. "I’m not disappointed, I’m actually happy with the performance."

Since then, the Mariners have gone on an unbeaten run of six matches, drawing with the then league leaders Blacktown Spartans, newly-promoted Hills Brumbies and two of the toughest nuts to crack in PS4 NPL 2 NSW: Mt Druitt Town Rangers and Spirit FC.

Haywood’s side also cast aside perennial championship contenders Bankstown City Lions, and, most incredibly of all, tamed the competition’s most expensive and experienced side, Marconi Stallions.

When asked how his side did the unthinkable against Marconi, Haywood replied: "We just took our chances to be honest, that was the main thing. We’ve been creating chances all season but not taking them. We didn’t necessarily control the game but whatever chances we got we took them."

The Mariners’ defensive structure and mindset throughout the game was impressive. The players knew exactly what their roles were and regardless of the pressure created by the opposition, they stuck to their guns and ultimately came away with the spoils.

"We’ve been working on our style since preseason and finally it all clicked and we got what we deserved," Haywood added.

"This was a team performance, we had four different goalscorers on the night and everybody played their part, including the boys who came off the bench. They played their part and they played it well."

So why are the young North Shore Mariners riding so high?

"Last year was our first in the division so I think we’re trying to learn from our mistakes," Haywood told Football NSW. "We don’t necessarily see ourselves as riding high – we’re a long way from where we want to be in terms of getting some more wins under our belts. It’s more about learning from our mistakes.

"The whole structure of the Mariners’ academy is improving, not only day-by-day, week-by-week, but as we’re finding out, year-by-year also. It’s just going to continue to get stronger and hopefully with that, the depth of talent we can provide for the national youth league will get stronger as well."

Haywood added that while the club hasn’t set any specific goals or expectations of where they’d like to finish on the competition table, they just want to continue improving.

"We just want to improve from where we were last year and hopefully we’re making strides towards that," he said.    

"We’re trying to take each game as it comes. I think we’re just competitive, and we’re going to cause teams problems whether it’s through our football, our discipline or our structure, or whether it’s set pieces. We’re always going to be a threat, we’re always going to be a danger. That’s something I’m working on and will continue to do so."

-By Derek Royal, Football NSW Reporter